Appearance
Export a mesh
Two of the three buttons under the Timeline stats, once a solid exists. The third, STEP, writes the solid rather than a mesh.
| Button | Writes | File |
|---|---|---|
| STL | Binary STL | model.stl |
| OBJ | Wavefront OBJ | model.obj |
Both in millimetres.
Which one
STL for 3D printing. Every slicer reads it, and it carries exactly the geometry.
OBJ for rendering or for a mesh tool. It carries vertices, normals and faces, without a material file, so no colour travels.
Both contain the same shape. Pick by what is reading it.
What you get
The finished solid after every feature and every blend. Not the individual features, and not the sketch.
The triangle count next to the volume is exactly what will be written, so you know the size before you press it.
Check before exporting
The volume figure is the sanity check. If it is not what your arithmetic says, something did not build the way you expected. See diagnose a sketch.
If the Timeline shows Body build in amber, you are looking at the separate pieces rather than the finished solid, and the export will not be what you want. Fix that first.
Curves are faceted
A mesh has only flat triangles, so a hole is written as a many-sided prism. The solid itself keeps the true curved surface; it is the mesh that cannot say so.
For a printed part this is finer than the process. It matters if you plan to measure a curved surface off the mesh, and it is the reason to send STEP to anyone who is going to machine the part.
A curved face still looks smooth, here and in OBJ, because it is shaded from the surface rather than from its triangles. STL keeps one normal per facet and shows the polygons.
What you cannot export
No IGES, DXF, SVG, or 3MF. To hand the part to another CAD tool as editable geometry, use STEP.
Sketch geometry cannot be exported on its own; only the solid.
To keep an editable part, use Save. Meshes cannot be opened back as a document.